The Matchmaker - A Book Review

I absolutely love the idea of matchmaking. I also love Fred from ‘First Dates,’ I mean who can resist a smart man with a gorgeous French accent? Honestly, I could quite happily listen to him chat away in French or English, all day long. Anyway, as usual I have digressed, but  there is a point to my slight aside, since I have been very fortunate to be gifted a copy of The Matchmaker to read in exchange for an honest and unbiased review; and given that it is inspired by the aforementioned show, I was suitably excited and extremely happy to have the opportunity to do so.

Since Innes works for Cosmopolitan as their Features Director, I had very high hopes for the standard of writing and story construction (back in the day, I was a huge Cosmo fan) and I can say hand on heart, I was not disappointed. From the very first paragraph, she draws you into the story, endearing you to the central character, Caitlin Carter, who disillusioned with her career in PR, sets up her own business as a Matchmaker. She is inspired to follow this path having met and married the love of her love Harry, and having a natural ability to know, just who will click with whom. These two things make Catlin very successful and her business, goes from strength to strength, with people eager to sign up and an Instagram account aspiring bloggers would give their right arm for! However, as we read on, it becomes clear, all is not as it seems to be.

I really enjoyed this book. Actually, I enjoyed it so much, I really didn't want to finish it and found myself missing Caitlin, her friends and her story; which makes writing a review horrendously difficult. What I want to do is blurt out the entire story to you, but obviously I can’t do that because that would completely ruin it for you. What I can do, is tell you that this is a well written book; the story flows effortlessly, the characters are well thought out and are easy to relate to (worryingly, I found I related most to Caitlin during a visit to the zoo - you'll need to read the book to find out what I mean). I particularly loved the way Innes cleverly drops breadcrumbs, letting the reader know that something is off, giving clues the further into the story we go, but without ruining the twist once it is finally revealed in full.

This isn’t the rom com I thought it was going to be, this is a journey of self discovery, friendship, support, family and change. There are highs and lows, laughter and tears, and holding it all together is love in all it's forms. If you are looking for a story to inspire you and remind you that even in the darkest times, hope's light still shines, then this is for you. I really hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

The Matchmaker is now available in paperback RRP £8.99.

Hippo Tours - The Story

Somewhere, in a deep dark forest, in the county of Kent, is a very special place indeed. It’s a place like no other. A place where you can do something you cannot do anywhere else in the whole wide world. I have no idea how such a place came to be located in Kent, which is more famously known for its orchards and hop gardens, but that’s where this strange and wonderful secret attraction is.

It is a very secret place indeed. Only very special people get an invitation, and if you tell anyone you have such a thing, it instantly becomes void. It’s all terribly top secret and with good reason. If anyone were to find out where the forest is and what is located there, well there would be all sorts of repercussions, I can tell you. Before I tell you any more of this closely guarded secret, let me explain a little about how it came to be.

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